McTatty's Top 10 Things She Cannot Live Without

1. Burt's Bees lip balm

2. Diet Mountain Dew

3. The "Chunky" Sweater from Banana Republic. A reprisal is needed every spring in Minnesota of my biege, black, brown, white and gray chunky sweaters.

4. Seventh Generation Trash Bags - I actually do bulk orders from Gaiam.com.

5. Method hand soap - Sea Minerals. It seriously smells like the spa. How can you NOT deny something that's biodegradable and good for you? Plus it's only $4.00 online. At Target it's usually $2.99 OR $3.99. Get it, you'll never turn back!

6. The Young & The Restless (my soap opera). I read this religiously.

7. Aveda Replenishing body Moisturizer. No need to elaborate anymore on Aveda. I'm from Minnesota and have been addicted ever since my first smell at the Southdale Mall.

8. My 2 year old Nikon D70s. I got it when it was brand new. Now people have the D80 and don't know what ISO even is...

9. The GoogleReader. How the heck would I keep up with blogs like The Pioneer Woman Cooks or Apartment Therapy?

10. The song "Otherside" by Red Hot Chili Peppers. Or anything by Tom Petty. Or Dave Matthews.

PSH

Shop: Umbra

So, in my spare time I browse the internet.

A lot.

And I found this cool store. Umbra - it reminds me of those stupid shorts that people had when I was little, like 6th grade or so for playing soccer. When I actually got a pair, I was so pissed that they kept riding up, I gave them away. My mom was mad. This is a different Umbra.

This is one European treasure that you'll adore. Storage to decorating to furniture to office stuff. Browse away, because I can't stop!

A grassy organizer for your desk, the bathroom (I want one for my brushes) or any small kitchen stuff is $9.50.

Plus their selection of paper towel holders will amaze you - even better than Bed, Bath & Beyond!

They even have a pretty selection of wallpaper - if you're feeling adventurous! The above wallpaper is $39 for 55 square feet, a bit expensive, but pretty for a bathroom or a reading nook - imagine sitting in a warm, cozy alcove with the soothing blue and reading your favorite book with tea (or a martini for me!).

Enjoy!

PSH

Pictures... of Letters... For Your Home!

There are so many websites out there that offer photographs of letters so you can create a sign, may it be "welcome" or your last name or first names or whatever.

Check out this website to offer you some creative ideas for what you can do along with examples of photos.

I've been thinking about offering to do this - but just developing the photos (5x7's) and shipping them off to whoever wants this.

The hard part: going out into the cold and finding creative parts of architecture that look like letters. I think I might start offering it on my photography website, www.psphotographyonline.com this upcoming April.

I better get to work! Outside of my living room window, I see several pieces of architecture that could be letters, "I," "H," "A."

PSH

Etsy Find

Corkboard. Easy to use, easy to buy and looks incredibly pretty! Corkboard is surprising sustainable for a green home - reusuable and earthfriendly, I'm in love with this etsy find! Uncorked is a great shop for neat interesting corkboard finds. $28 gets you the corkboard above with layers of the artist's personality!

Another good find - earrings! Yeah, yeah, I know they're not exactly home decorish - but still - you just can't deny a good pair of homemade earrings! For $18, the earrings above are a pretty good deal. Made by Elizabeth Williams, you'll find so many cute things from her shop, that I'm sure you'll find a few presents for others as well as yourself!

Time for another DECOR ITEM:

Prestige is the manufacturer of this lovely lamp (now I regret registering for lamps for wedding presents, but then you don't know crap about decorating until you start to learn what you like and what you don't like along with what goes together and what doesn't). The seller's marketplace, Sea Glass Vintage, also includes items like goblets, hand thrown pottery, a candy dispenser and awesome gadgets for displaying on bookshelves (hint: look at everything and you'll find SOMETHING you love!).

So onto Etsy it is... Happy hunting!

PSH

I'm BACK!!! From the depths of personal assistant life...

So I have a new day job. I'm an assistant, more like a personal assistant to a Vice President at a major university. Yes, yesterday I was creating a Flickr account for his photos...

Which literally had me thinking that maybe I need to focus on things I like when I come home, back to my new year's resolution!

And aha!

Welcome to Acacia!

You'll be welcome to find all the recycled materials and zen-like flavor it offers for peace and tranquility.

Take for example this stone pebble door mat. For $45, it's really not a bad deal for pretending to walk in water, right?

Ha! No, but I love the feel that it brings right away to your entryway, front door, it reveals a calming sense of your home for visitors.

Looking to show of some lovely drinks, maybe your fabulous foodie creations? Try this utsukushii tray (means beautiful in Japanese). $29.95 can bring you the creativity to host a Japanese themed dinner party, purchase some Japanese prints and maybe a budha or just enough inspiration to find more decor that you absolutely love!

I could seriously link to everything (including their lovely sexual intimacy DVD collection), but I just can't help showing the ones that I purchased this past week.

Enjoy!

PSH

Cool Clocks

From UrbanOutfitter's, this classic comes in three colors - black, orange and turquoise. Take your pic of bright, fun spring colors to outfit your own decor or stick with the basic black. It's online only for a steal at $24, plus you can even shop for clothes and fun stuff to entertain.

Check out the cool clock above - it attaches to the wall on the side, so you have two views. It's a definite splurge at CB2 for $80 bucks but worth it if you only have one clock in your small space.

PSH

Workspaces - What A Girl NEEDS

See Jane Work

The fun and fabulous site where you can order your fabulous office supplies. At work, I call my office supply catalog my "bible." I look through it everyday and wonder what else I can order for my desk.

Flip no more - only clicking is required here (along with your company's credit card)!

Another aspect that I love about work areas is your mousepad. I was a freshman in college when I stole my first mousepad from the University of Minnesota. It said, "Do Not Remove. Property of the University of Minnesota." Well, technically I still lived on campus. It was still on University of Minnesota property. So that's not stealing, right???

The mousepad shown is only $7.50. I would buy that instead of steal it. But now, if it said, "Property of Indiana University, Do Not Remove" I think that I would use it at work - that's still Indiana University property, right???

Click on over to See Jane Work. I think you'll enjoy the humorous office stuff along with all the girly products. I need a little pink in my work life and this is definitely the way to go!

PSH

Pin-Ups - Worth It or Not???

Pin-ups remind me of the time I found a 1979 Playboy in my dad's desk at home.

Gross.

But I guess they're coming back in style - the retro look is in. Kind of like the black sweater dress I'm wearing today, if I don't wear it today, I'm going to have to pray to God that I have a daughter who will wear it in 30 years.

to be quite honest - how in the world do you decorate with them? In the boudoir, yes, I can see that. In a bachelor pad? Yes, of course! In my home... I have no idea where I would put them or what I would do with them.

Maybe make postcards and frame them? I don't think I'd actually blow up an image to poster size, most likely because I'm an art freak and would want an "original." I don't know... they're so, timeless in a way, that they're hard to gauge exactly where to decorate with them. If I had my own dressing room, I'd bet my garter belts that I would decorate with pin-ups.

But, I don't want one of these posters in my living room for my husband's frat buddy friends to jack off to, that's for sure! These pin-ups are way too retro!

How To Find:

Google "pin-ups; 1940's - 1950's"

PSH

Why Should We Ignore the Bedroom???

Oh, hell no... The bedroom is my sanctuary. Kind of.

Amidst the clothes piles and piles of towels and crappola, and my husband's dead father's ashes (Yes, gross, I know but I'm not sure how to explain an urn in our bedroom and if we had it in the living room I feel like we'd get more questions) I have an amazingly wonderful bed where I can fall asleep at any time. Seriously, I'm known for taking naps at 11 in the morning and even at 6 at night. It's all because of my wonderful bed.

Ok, it's because of the down featherbed, the flannel sheets, the Laura Ashley pillows and my soft blankie from Target. Nothing really matches by labels, but that's ok - you gotta take what you can get and let me tell you, I'm giving that Shabby Chic blanket from Target to my mother-in-law for her birthday. I "let" her use it when she stayed for Thanksgiving and I seriously thought she was going to steal it from me!

PSH

In The Kitchen........

Does anybody really use one of these? Seriously? I just watched Michael Chiarello on the FoodNetwork roast his chilis right on the grills of his stove. Well, no more burnt chili sticking on to YOUR stove. This chili roaster above is on sale at Sur La Table. Funny thing is, I didn't know they were popular enough to be out of stock!



Eh, roasting chili's isn't quite my thing around the holidays, but it would make a great gift!



PSH

Need Christmas Ideas?

Try out West Elm. They have a section for gifts and sale stuff too. I found the perfect reed diffuser for my mother-in-law (sorry, Diane, I didn't mean to ruin the surprise!), cute glass lanterns that you can hang from the ceiling and for the "green" person in your life, organic towels! They also have super cute ornaments that anyone can use to decorate with.

Two years ago I bought all of our Christmas ornaments at Ikea. They were a combo of red, white and blue ornaments. This year I only put the red and white ornaments on the tree. Just three days ago, I realized that I had decorated in Indiana University colors. Not my alma mater, but it will be my husband's soon.

I decided that next year, I'm decorating in maroon and gold.

Go Gophers!

But back to the Christmas gifts...

Also try looking at Red Envelope. I've always found my mother the perfect piece of jewelry. For Mother's Day it was green shamrock earrings and now for Christmas, I think I've found the perfect gift - she said she wanted gardening stuff...

PSH